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News.com.au
5 days ago
- Business
- News.com.au
Sydney suburbs where units still reeling from pandemic
Call it suburban 'long Covid' –– many of Sydney's most popular suburbs before the pandemic are suffering from a chronic, post-pandemic slump in housing values that's refused to go away. These pockets are still feeling the economic shocks of Covid and the 13 interest rate hikes from 2022-23 which have seen property values going backwards, flatlining or barely budging. Price declines have been especially pronounced in high-density areas that were once magnets for investors — particularly those catering to international students and short-term renters. Data from PropTrack reveals that units in the inner city, the lower North Shore and beyond are cheaper now than they were in 2020. PropTrack economist Angus Moore said Sydney's unit growth since then has been sluggish in comparison to other capital markets. 'Since the pandemic began, unit prices in Sydney are up 22 per cent; far slower than over 80 per cent in Adelaide, or nearly 95 per cent in Brisbane,' he said. 'This is partly due to people moving to the smaller capitals during Covid and partly due to their relative affordability. 'Though that is not as true today as it was five years ago, given how far prices in the smaller capitals have risen.' Mr Moore said Sydney's apartment struggles reflected a change in buyer preferences that began during Covid. 'People wanted more space to be able to work from home and were less concerned about commuting,' he said. 'This favoured larger detached houses over apartments.' The cost and duration of building units has been a factor in the restrained overall growth of units. 'The cost of building increased rapidly during Covid, the time it takes to build homes has increased, and labour has been a constraint,' Mr Moore said. According to ABS data, prices received by building construction businesses have increased 31.1 per cent from the September quarter of 2020 to the June quarter of 2024. The suburb with the biggest decline in unit prices since Covid — with at least 50 properties sold in the last 12 months –– was Eastwood, with a drop of 18.4 per cent. Units in the nearby suburbs of Epping and Gordon have also felt the post-Covid drop. Raine & Horne Lower North Shore sales agent Andrew Bowden said the price of units in the area were 'still fluctuating'. 'Premium, highly sought-after properties are achieving the highest price levels they have seen, whereas others are still sitting at pricing levels seen around the market peak of 2021.' Mr Bowden said the struggle of some lower North Shore units was also in part due to their presentation. 'Well-presented apartments in premium Lower North Shore pockets are performing well, whereas buyers are showing more patience with less desirable options, choosing to hold out for properties to meet more of their requirements,' he said. Further into the city, units in Haymarket, Darlinghurst, Ultimo and Sydney all experienced five-year price declines. A unit at 88 Hay Street, Haymarket sold for $875,000 in April 2025, despite previously selling for $878,000 in April 2020. Village Property sales executive Jack Williams said the Covid period was 'definitely challenging' for the area, as people dealt with transitioning to a new way of living and working. Mr Williams said a key factor of the long-Covid effects on the market were new developments being opened in the early 2020s. 'When a new development goes up it does provide more choice which generally does plateau prices for a period,' he said. 'We're seeing now there's very limited new developments because construction costs have gone up so much.' He added that it wasn't all doom and gloom, with the long-term potential for units in these areas improving as more people returned towards high density living. 'Rental demand is strong, yields are strong — I think it's got some solid long-term prospects,' he said. Mr Moore said the effects of Covid on Sydney's high-density suburbs were 'starting to ease'. 'In particular, we're not seeing rapid escalation in the cost of building,' he said. 'However, building costs haven't come down and therefore remain a lot more expensive than pre-pandemic.' SYDNEY SUBURBS BY MEDIAN PRICE DECLINE (Units; Min 50 property sales in 12 months to June 2025) Suburb Median unit price (June 2025) Median unit price (June 2020) Price decline since 2020 Per cent change Eastwood $751,000 $920,000 $169,000 -18.4 Darlinghurst $895,000 $1,045,000 $150,000 -14.4 Sydney $1,050,000 $1,200,000 $150,000 -12.5 Ultimo $684,000 $760,000 $76,000 -10 Haymarket $970,000 $1,055,000 $85,000 -8.1 Kirribilli $1,525,000 $1,650,000 $125,000 -7.6 Roseville $957,500 $1,010,000 $52,500 -5.2 Belmore $612,750 $645,000 $32,250 -5 Auburn $559,000 $585,000 $26,000 -4.4 Gordon $888,888 $928,000 $39,112 -4.2
Bloomberg
22-07-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Billionaire Thomson Family to Buy £25 Million Luxury London Apartment
A member of the multibillionaire family behind Thomson Reuters Corp. agreed to buy a high-end London apartment for about £25 million ($34 million), in the latest sign of North Americans bolstering the city's luxury market. The Thomson family member — whose exact identity is unclear — agreed to purchase the sprawling single-level flat in Mayfair earlier this year, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named as the information is private. A representative for the Thomson family didn't respond to a request for comment.
Irish Times
14-07-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
French ambassador's residence, once most expensive house on the market, gets a complete refurbishment
In January 2008 the French ministry for foreign affairs put its ambassador's residence at 53 Ailesbury Road, Dublin 4 up for sale for €60 million. Even by Celtic Tiger excesses, this was a breathtaking amount of money – a record asking price at the time. The original house was commissioned by wealthy barrister George Bustard in 1883. It remained in the family until it was purchased by the French government in 1930. The 11,000sq ft mansion was so big that Yvon Roe d'Albert, ambassador between 2007 and 2010, said he had to call his wife on the mobile phone to find her. READ MORE Its attempted sale was part of a worldwide downsizing of the French foreign estate. The timing was unfortunate. The collapse of Northern Rock in the UK in late 2007 had been the canary in the coal mine of the great recession that was to follow. By St Patrick's Day 2008, shares in Irish banks had plummeted. The debt-fueled party had ended and property prices crashed. The embassy across the road at 36 Ailesbury Road was put on the market at the same time for €20 million. Such was the magnitude of the crash that it eventually fetched between €4 and €4.5 million when it sold in 2013. The French residence was quietly taken off the market. Instead, it has been totally refurbished, a process that has taken four years. The roof, plumbing and electricity were completely overhauled. The French ambassador's residence foyer. Photograph: Chris Maddaloni A dining room at the French ambassador's residence. Photograph: Chris Maddaloni The residence closed for more than a year for renovation inside. It has been repainted with new tapestries from contemporary French artists. The hallway floor was stripped back to reveal the original tiles. The original doors separating the stairway and the entrance hall were found and have been restored. The French ambassador Céline Place has only been in residence there for 10 days and is focused on the annual Bastille Day celebrations in the 1.75-acre back garden which will feature more than 1,000 invited guests. 'It will be my own home when my family comes back from France, where they are on holidays,' she said. She and her husband have two boys, aged nine and 17. Céline Place, ambassador of France in Ireland. Photograph: Chris Maddaloni The trend of selling off French residences abroad has stopped now, she added, and the ambassador's residence will not be put on the market again. 'The renovation means we are here and we are staying for good.' A reception nook in the piano room at the French ambassador's residence. Photograph: Chris Maddaloni A bust and tapestry in the piano room at the French ambassador's residence. Photograph: Chris Maddaloni Even in the pantheon of great French residences abroad, the Dublin property is regarded as special. 'Other colleagues who told me about it before I came to Ireland, and all those who travelled to Ireland for official visits or strategic dialogue, said: 'You should see the residence; it is amazing'. It is a well-known building and much appreciated in France.' Though it is called the ambassador's residence, the living space itself is upstairs. The ground floor is reserved for public functions and is opened once a year for the public through Open House Dublin. The newly renovated residence will be the focal point for many French activities in Ireland. Ms Place is hoping to organise the launch of the Dublin Chamber International Festival in the residence next April. The old piano in the main salon was regularly played at functions by Ms Place's predecessor, Stéphane Crouzat. The piano room at the French ambassador's residence. Photograph: Chris Maddaloni She also hopes to showcase the work of French designers during Irish Design Week, while next November there will be events to mark the 10th anniversary of the Paris Climate Accord. 'We will work as we always do on classical arts and promoting the good relationship in arts between France and Ireland.'
Telegraph
09-07-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
The best time of year to sell your house
Forget freshly painted walls or the smell of baking bread – the trick to selling your home may just be to do it in the right season for your house. A glorious garden in the summer, or underfloor heating in the winter, can sway a buyer to spend a little more on a home. In fact, sellers can make tens of thousands more by selling at the right time of year, a recent study has found. Houses with a south-facing garden, an outdoor entertainment area and a hot tub can command a price of up to £22,000 more during the summer, based on the £324,000 average price of a three-bed home in the UK, according to analysis by property website Zoopla. Even a balcony adds over £4,000 to a home's price tag if sold in the summer compared to other seasons. Those planning to sell their home in the second half of 2025, and are bracing for a sluggish market, should time their sale accordingly to secure the best deal. Tom Bill, of estate agent Knight Frank, says: 'The defining factor of today's market is that there's a huge amount of supply. With so many homes on the market, buyers are in control and are not in any kind of rush to make a decision. 'Combined with an overhang of stock from the stamp duty cliff-edge back in March, and a delay in people selling last year while people waited to see what the Labour Budget would bring, there's a huge amount of competition for sellers.' Contributing to the surplus of property available to buy is landlords selling up because renting is not as lucrative any more. Increased taxes, higher mortgage rates and stricter regulations have triggered a spike in property investors getting out. The proportion of landlords listing property for sale at the start of this year jumped by almost 50pc compared to last year, according to data from TwentyCi. Meanwhile, homes with features such as wood-burning fireplaces or Aga-style range cookers can achieve a premium in the winter, the Zoopla analysis found. Underfloor heating could command an additional £4,000 and good energy-efficiency measures add around £3,400. Daniel Copley, of Zoopla, said: 'It's clear that homebuyers are swayed by the season, and in some cases, certain features can help sellers achieve more for their home. 'All homes differ, however, so sellers should get bespoke advice from an estate agent, who will be able to advise if their home might be more desirable and command a higher asking price during the summer.' Claire Carter, of agent John D Wood & Co, added that while some features were seasonal, some could be attractive to buyers all year round. 'I'm seeing growing demand for natural swimming ponds or lakes, which tend to hold their appeal year-round. Buyers are increasingly aware of the health benefits – they're better for the environment, chemical-free and fit more naturally with the landscape. 'Unlike a traditional pool, which feels seasonal, a well-designed swimming lake can feel like part of the countryside, being usable in the summer and beautiful even in the winter,' she said. Is there an optimum season for selling property? Spring and autumn are typically the key months when it comes to property buying and selling. During the summer, people's minds tend to be more focused on holidays and keeping the kids entertained while school is closed. And in the winter months, people tend to move less while they focus on Christmas and New Year festivities. Bill said: 'Spring is usually a busy time, but this year it was different because there was the stamp duty change on April 1 so there was a rush from January to get completion through beforehand. 'Looking forward to the autumn we will be on the approach to the next Budget, with speculation in the run up often causing sentiment to drop. 'The good news is that we are expecting another interest rate cut in August which means the cost of borrowing should fall, boosting confidence in the property market. Buyers often have an ambition to be settled in their new home by Christmas.' How long does it take to sell a house? Unhelpfully, there is no definite answer for how long it takes a house to sell, it depends on where and what you're selling – and the market conditions at the time. The most comprehensive measure of the time it takes to sell a home begins from the date it is first listed with an agent until the date of completion. On average, it takes 205 days to complete, according to data from property analyst firm TwentyEA, on behalf of agent Cavendish. This is an increase of 10 days when comparing January to May 2025 with the same timeframe in 2024. Faster completions are usually helped by pricing keenly. Nick Leeming, chairman of estate agent Jackson-Stops, said: 'In the current market, it's essential for sellers to remember there is always demand for a sensibly priced property. 'At a time when transactions on average are now taking more than 200 days to complete, sellers looking for a quick sale need to keep the realities of their local market front of mind.' Should I put my house on the market before finding somewhere to buy? If it's a competitive market, as a buyer you'll do well to be 'proceedable' – in other words, with an offer accepted on your current home. There's no legal requirement for you to do so, but it puts you in a stronger position for a seller to accept your offer if there are other interested buyers – or even if there are several offers on the same place. In fact, many people go one step further and sell first, place their things in storage and rent for a short spell. This makes you chain-free and in pole position in most cases. However, this is only necessary if it's a very competitive and fast-moving area with a short supply of the types of home you're looking for.
Telegraph
07-07-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
The sleepy corner of Suffolk where the property market is on fire
When she lived in London, Stacey Lascelles rented a flat on the booming Archway Road with a constant soundtrack of traffic. There was no garden and she couldn't afford to rent alone, let alone buy, so she lived with three flatmates. Today, Lascelles lives in bucolic Mid Suffolk, which stretches north from Ipswich. Her days are punctuated by birdsong and the occasional whinnies of horses grazing in her field. She and her young family have acres of space, and there are other benefits to her change of location and lifestyle. 'I really like the vibe of Suffolk – the people and the culture,' she says. 'There is a really good community, people are welcoming and supportive, and there is never a shortage of people if you need help.' Newcomers like Lascelles have fallen for rural Suffolk's combination of peace, beauty, affordability and accessibility – trains from Stowmarket to London take about 80 minutes, and you can be in Cambridge in just under an hour. These buyers are helping the area to buck the trend of price falls and stagnation, which is currently blighting much of the South. In the past year, average prices in Mid Suffolk have jumped by 11.8pc, according to the Land Registry, far above the growth of 6.7pc across England. It also compares favourably to better known rural hotspots – the Cotswold district has recorded price falls of 7pc in the same period, while Devon's fashionable South Hams scraped 1.5pc growth. And, with average prices of £335,000, Mid Suffolk is also an affordable option compared to the classic Home Counties like Surrey (£526,311), Hertfordshire (£464,313) or Buckinghamshire (£479,894). Value for money Charlie Philip, of Jackson-Stops estate agents, believes Mid Suffolk's strong price growth is – in part at least – thanks to this difference in price, offering great value for money. 'A lot of people we are seeing are coming from more affluent areas – Kent and Surrey – due to interest rates,' he says. 'Their five- or 10-year deals are coming to an end, and they are selling up more expensive properties and buying an exceptional house, on a par with what they are selling, for a lot less money. They can come out here and enjoy country living of the same quality that they are used to.' In London, Lascelles, now 34, lived in her north London flatshare and worked in publishing. Her life changed when she met her now-husband John, 35, through mutual friends. He was based in Norfolk, and after a year or so, Stacey joined him, getting a marketing job with a local horse feed company. Fate took a hand when the couple were asked to house-sit a property for a friend in Suffolk. They liked it so much and found it so handy for John's job as a design engineer in Cambridge and Stacey's marketing job in Suffolk, that they decided to relocate. Just before the pandemic, the couple bought a three-bedroom cottage in Wetherden, a village outside Stowmarket. It cost £425,000, and is now valued at £675,000. They have three acres of land, more than enough for their two border terriers, Stacey's horse and her daughter's miniature Shetland pony. Lascelles is expecting a second child later this year, and she and John have set up a side hustle too, Hampers of Haughley, which sells baskets and hampers full of locally sourced food and drink. For some ex-Londoners, the allure of the Cotswolds is its big name venues like Soho Farmhouse and Daylesford Organic, where they can hang out with their network of urban exiles. But Lascelles is happy with her local pubs and small farm shops. 'Suffolk is much more rustic and much more authentic than the Cotswolds,' she says. 'It is less polished, but that doesn't worry me in the slightest.' 'A best-kept secret' In the market town of Stowmarket, Stuart Ellis, of William H Brown estate agents, sees plenty of first-time buyers born and raised locally, and looking to spend £250,000 to £290,000 on a three-bedroom house. Since the median full-time salary in the east of England stands at just under £40,000, according to the Office for National Statistics, a small family home like this is well within the grasp of many young couples. Meanwhile, in London, the median annual wage is £44,000, but an average starter home costs £511,500 according to Halifax, leaving first-time buyers in the capital facing an often insurmountable affordability gap. These first timers, said Ellis, drive demand up the ladder – although there are limits. Around 90pc of his buyers are already based in East Anglia, and most will not spend more than £500,000. Above that, homes take longer to sell, particularly because only such a small proportion of buyers come from beyond the region and have large slices of equity earned in higher-value markets. 'During the pandemic, we had a lot of people coming up from London and they all wanted a Grade II-listed thatched cottage in the countryside,' said Evans. 'That drove up prices, but those homes now take longer to sell.' Before the pandemic, Kristine Hall, 42, and her husband Dan Osman, 43, often spent weekends in Mid Suffolk, relishing its peace and quiet as a welcome antidote to life in South Woodford, east London. 'It was kind of a best-kept secret,' says Hall. 'Beautiful, reasonably priced, and easy to get to from London. There was a massive lack of people, which is what we wanted.' Like Lascelles, she found it superior to the Cotswolds. 'I tend to avoid touristy places, especially when I was living in London,' she explains. 'I would rather have somewhere genuine and authentic.' Moving there wasn't an option – until Osman, who works in insurance, was freed from the nine-to-five during the pandemic. In 2021, the couple and their five-year-old daughter, Juniper, sold their four-bedroom terraced house and bought – for less money – a five-bedroom part-Tudor house set in 4.5 acres in the village of Earl Stonham, 10 miles north of Ipswich. Hall, an interior designer, brought her business, Restoring Lansdowne Interiors, with her. Four years on, and the family is well settled into country life. Like Lascelles, Hall has been impressed by the friendliness of the locals, the beauty of the countryside and the peace. As an added bonus, she hasn't encountered a DFL (down from London) set – or a backlash against them. 'There is a real mix of people with really interesting histories and life experience,' she says. 'There are lots of creatives, but not necessarily ones who have done the London thing.'
